TROJANS II 2 WEYMOUTH 4

DESPITE missing the likes of Michael Westlake, Matthew Lawes and Daniel Bowles, and not having any substitutes, Weymouth returned from Southampton with a hard-fought win.

Matthew Underhill took charge of a makeshift defensive line-up and captain Simon Harvey moved into the midfield for the Hampshire Area Division One fixture.

Weymouth made a positive start and early strikes from Harvey and Steven Membury were just wide of the target, the latter’s hitting the post, but Patrick May broke the deadlock with the first of two drag flicks at penalty corners.

The Seasiders were then unlucky to concede soon after from what was Trojans’ first real opportunity of the game.

Trojans broke down the right and crashed a bouncing ball across the circle that Underhill was unable to intercept, allowing one of the hosts’ forwards to sweep in.

However, May scored his second prior to half-time, though the Trojans’ keeper nearly did enough to keep it out.

Worryingly for the visitors, Trojans levelled the scores minutes into the second half when a forward was picked out in the circle and he fired past David Civil.

There was further cause for concern in the Weymouth ranks when they were temporarily reduced to nine men as Luke Drewitt and May were sent to the sin bin in quick succession, both for strongly protesting umpires’ decisions against them.

Credit went to the Weymouth nine as they kept Trojans out during the double sin-binning.

May and Drewitt were then instrumental in the goals that killed off the game and sealed the win for Weymouth.

Drewitt scored at the end of a spectacular piece of link-up play moments after his return.

Underhill, picked out deep in Trojans’ territory, played a first-time pass to Drewitt, who in turn swept the ball across the face of goal and into the top-right corner, much to the delight of his team-mates.

A fourth for Chris Fry followed, and it was an equally impressive strike.

This time May turned provider, crashing the ball across the goalmouth for Fry to deflect past the unsighted keeper.

In the dying minutes, a Trojans midfielder picked up a yellow card for dissent and he left the pitch along with any hopes of his team getting anything from the game.

Weymouth captain Harvey was delighted with his team’s performance, in particular the efforts of Sam Drewitt and man of the match Membury.

This Saturday, Weymouth host struggling Aldershot & Farnham, a side they beat 4-2 on the road earlier in the season.